


Puppy Love

by hachoo



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dog BB-8, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, well actually puppy BB-8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 11:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6003880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hachoo/pseuds/hachoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Puppies can be hard work. They can also be great wingmen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentines Day! Have this tooth-decaying piece of fluff. It's completely inspired by [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN5NACT8BSI). As always, any mistakes are mine.

They’ve run out of dog food.  
  
Poe doesn’t even know how; he’s fairly certain the lady at the pet store had said the bag he’d bought was meant to last at least a month. But here they are, two weeks in and BB-8 has nothing to eat. She’s pawing at her empty bowl sadly, looking up at Poe with big eyes and he feels like a _terrible_ owner.  
  
He gets her into her puppy harness, clips the leash on and grabs his wallet and phone. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s go shopping.”  
  
BB-8 lets out a high pitched bark in agreement.  
  


\--

  


Poe’s seconds away from entering the nearby grocery store when he notices a small sign on the door proclaiming ‘NO PETS’.  
  
He pauses, glances down at BB-8, whose head still barely grazes his ankles. She stares up at him, entirely trusting and he _can’t_ leave her outside like this, not when she’s so small and innocent and can’t protect herself.  
  
Which leaves only one option.  
  
Turns out it’s fairly easy to smuggle a four month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel into a store if you have a jacket. In fact, they don’t really draw any attention. Well, not at first.  
  
Poe’s busy explaining the different kinds of pasta to BB-8, tucked away and hidden from sight in his jacket, when he realizes there’s another man standing next to him, looking slightly concerned. Most likely because to an innocent bystander, it kind of looks like Poe’s talking to himself.  
  
Poe glances around the store quickly and, seeing no staff members nearby, moves his jacket aside to reveal BB-8. The man’s expression immediately changes to one of awe as he regards the tiny puppy.  
  
“Oh my-” he begins to say, voice far too loud and Poe quickly hushes him, eyes darting around to make sure they haven’t attracted any attention. Luckily, everyone seems too busy with their own shopping to care.  
  
“Sorry,” the man says, voice lowered. He offers Poe an apologetic smile. “But your dog is so cute!”  
  
_You’re so cute_ , Poe wants to reply. He has enough sense not to, but he’s so distracted by the gorgeousness of the man in front of him that when the man clears his throat and moves closer to Poe, pressing their shoulders together, it comes as a (not entirely unwelcome) surprise. It takes him a moment to realize there’s a staff member walking past and that by moving closer, the other man has blocked BB-8 from view.  
  
“Thanks,” Poe says once they’re in the clear, smiles at the other man. He holds out his free hand. “I’m Poe. Poe Dameron.”  
  
“Finn,” the other man introduces himself as. He lets go of Poe’s hand to reach out and let BB-8 sniff it. “Your dog is really cute.”  
  
“Her name’s BB-8,” Poe offers. BB-8 noses at Finn’s hand, then starts gnawing on his fingers with her tiny teeth. “BB, no!”  
  
“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt,” Finn reassures Poe, moving slightly closer to grant BB-8 easier access to his fingers (and who _does_ that, who acts considerately to the dog _biting their fingers_ , Poe is in _way_ over his head right now). “Hey there, BB-8.”  
  
BB-8 stops chewing on Finn’s fingers and instead starts licking them enthusiastically.  
  
“Oh BB, no. Don’t- I’m so sorry,” Poe apologizes to Finn. “She’s just hungry; I came down to buy her food. We’re still working on figuring out the difference between food and fingers, apparently.”  
  
Finn laughs. It’s a beautiful sound, and Poe can’t help but smile.  
  
“It’s my fault, I ate chicken for lunch. Didn’t get a chance to wash my hands after.” They both glance down at BB-8, who is licking at the webbing between Finn’s fingers with enthusiasm. Finn starts laughing, moves his hand away.  
  
“It tickles,” he explains, an adorable smile on his face and Poe’s literally known the man for all of two minutes but he thinks he maybe wants to spend the rest of his life with him and wow, that’s slightly terrifying.  
  
Maybe he should start off with something a little more conventional (and a little less intimidating).  
  
“Would you – would you maybe like to have dinner with me tonight?”  
  
“Oh.” Finn’s look of surprise quickly changes to one of happiness. “Umm, sure! That would – yeah, that would be nice. Where at?”  
  
“Well, there’s this great place-” Poe pauses, glances down at BB-8 still nestled in his arm. “I just realized I can’t leave BB-8 alone yet. Which means dinner would have to be at my place and that seems very presumptuous for a first date, I’m sorry, just forget I even asked-”  
  
“No,” Finn interrupts, places a hand on Poe’s forearm. “Your place would be fine, if you’re okay to have me over.”  
  
“Oh, I’d love to have you over.”  
  
“Great! Shall we say seven?”  
  
“Seven is perfect.”  
  
“Well then. I guess I’ll see you tonight, Poe Dameron.”  
  
They part ways with shy grins.  
  
Finn’s back at his side thirty seconds later, blushing red as he asks for Poe’s address.  
  


\--

  


Poe waits until he gets back to his apartment to freak out. He then spends the next couple of minutes spinning around the apartment with BB-8 held up in front of him, singing loudly. BB-8 does her best to yowl along with him and together, they create quite the cacophony. In hindsight, it’s hardly surprising that his next door neighbor starts banging on the wall.  
  
“Sorry,” Poe calls out before grinning at BB-8. “BB, we have a date!”  
  
BB-8 probably doesn’t understand a word he’s saying but her tail is wagging like crazy so he takes it as a good sign. He cuddles her close, sniffs her fur and –  
  
“Oh, BB! I think it’s time I introduced you to the bathtub.”  
  


\--

  


Four hours and forty seven minutes later, after twelve instructional videos on ‘How To Introduce Your Puppy To Water’, four failed attempts and one eventual success at washing BB-8, as well as a hurried trip to the nearest laundromat when Poe realised he had no nice (clean) shirts to wear, they’re finally ready.  
  
Poe is adding the finishing touches to the dinner table when there’s a knock on the door at precisely seven o’clock.  
  
“Ready, buddy?” He asks BB-8, who’s already run over to the door. She sneezes.  
  
“… I’ll take that as a yes.”  
  
He opens the door and Finn’s standing there, looking unfairly perfect and holding a bottle of wine. BB-8 yaps excitedly. Poe smiles.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
“Hey yourself,” Finn shoots back. He sniffs, glances over Poe’s shoulder. “What smells so good?”  
  
“Oh. It’s dinner! I did promise you dinner, after all.”  
  
“I can’t wait.”  
  
They settle down for dinner at the four-person dining table, BB-8 between their legs with her own bowl. Finn takes one bite of his dish and lets out a frankly obscene moan.  
  
“You didn’t tell me you were a professional cook!”  
  
“It’s nothing,” Poe says, flustered. ( _Nothing_ being two hours in the kitchen, frantically pouring over his mother’s recipe book while BB-8 pawed at his legs for scraps. But Finn doesn’t need to know that.)  
  
They make comfortable small talk as they eat, learning the basics about each other.  
  
(“You’re a stunt pilot? That’s amazing!”  
  
“You’re sparking change around the _world_ , Finn. _That’s_ amazing.”)  
  
They’re on the subject of BB-8 when Poe realizes she hasn’t been eating.  
  
“BB, what’s wrong? You haven’t touched your food.” Poe stands up and crouches next to the table, runs a hand through BB-8’s fur worriedly.  
  
“Is she sick?” Finn asks. He kneels down next to Poe, face concerned at BB-8’s apparent lack of appetite and Poe’s already more than ready to give his heart to this stranger, this man who he’s known less than a day.  
  
BB-8 looks, for all intents and purposes, perfectly healthy, if slightly bored. She’s slumped on the rug beneath the table, head resting on her paws as she gazes up at them. Poe frowns, trying to figure out what’s wrong.  
  
And then it hits him.  
  
He sighs ruefully.  
  
“Hey, Finn? Would you mind if we tried something?”  
  
Finn raises an eyebrow but nods.  
  
Five minutes later, they’re both lying side by side on their stomachs, plates in front of them. Between them, BB-8 is happily munching away on her own food. Poe glances over to see Finn grinning at him.  
  
“Do you do this often?” Finn asks curiously.  
  
Poe shrugs in embarrassment. “It’s just – she won’t eat unless someone’s eating with her. I’m sorry; this probably isn’t what you expected when I invited you to dinner and you probably think it’s ridiculous-”  
  
“No,” Finn interrupts, soft smile gracing his features. “No, I don’t.”  
  
Poe can feel himself flushing red. He quickly glances down at his bowl before chancing a look; Finn’s still smiling at him, and he can’t help but smile back. Eventually, they manage to drag their eyes away from each other and continue eating but every so often there’s a fleeting glance, a shared smile, shy laughter.  
  
A promise of something more.  
  


\--

  


Later, much later, Poe finds himself walking Finn to the door. They pause there, Poe and BB-8 on one side and Finn on the other. It’s far colder outside than it was when Finn first walked in and Poe can see goose bumps appearing on his arms.  
  
“How did you get here?”  
  
“I drove. My car’s just parked down the street.”  
  
Poe shifts BB-8 to one arm and grabs his favorite jacket from where it’s hanging next to the door, offers it to Finn. “Here, take this. It’s chilly outside.”  
  
“It’s fine, it’ll take less than five minutes to walk there.”  
  
“Take it. You can give it back to me next time.”  
  
Finn pauses. “Next time? Right, next time. When I see you next. On our next date. That next time.”  
  
Poe grins. “Yeah buddy, that next time.”  
  
Finn shrugs the jacket on quickly. It fits him like a glove and Poe’s throat is suddenly feeling a little dry. He clears his throat somewhat abruptly.  
  
“So, I had a great time tonight.”  
  
Finn beams at him. “So did I. Thanks for dinner.”  
  
“Thanks for eating dinner on the floor with us.”  
  
Finn laughs, then glances behind him. “Well, I should probably head off. I’ll message you tomorrow?”  
  
“Sounds good.”  
  
There’s an awkward pause and Poe parts his lips, planning on saying something – _anything_ – but instead finds Finn’s lips pressed against his own in a soft, chaste kiss.  
  
“Goodnight,” Finn whispers when he pulls back, cheeks flushed. Poe blinks at him, momentarily stunned before coming to his senses and reaching out with his free hand to grab Finn’s shirt before he can move away, tugging him closer and capturing his lips in a longer, far less chaste response.  
  
“Goodnight,” Poe murmurs when he eventually draws back, lips tingling. Finn’s eyes flutter open and he smiles somewhat dazedly, giving Poe and BB-8 a final wave before heading off. Poe lets himself slide down the closed door until he’s seated on the floor. He can’t stop smiling.  
  
“We did it buddy,” he tells BB-8. “We did it!”  
  
His phone chirps in his pocket and he struggles to get it out. It’s a text message from Finn.  
  
_Breakfast at Maz’s Café at 9 tomorrow? Dog friendly, my treat. ___  
  
Poe’s cheeks hurt from smiling.  
  
_We’ll be there_  
xo

  
  



End file.
